Reviews

The Scotsman

The Independent on Sunday

Nicholas Barber

“You might be ready to file The Muppets alongside The Artist and Hugo: all three films are buoyed by their unabashed love of the showbiz of a bygone era. But the genius of The Muppets is the way it balances all this warmth and affection with anarchic, self-aware humour.
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The Los Angeles Times

Betsy Sharkey

“The filmmakers are definitely playing around with the form, breaking the fourth wall and messing with movie conventions when it suits them. There are a few stumbles, but not too many, and by the time Gary and Walter get to a showstopping number that asks the burning question — "Am I a man, or a Muppet?" — you are completely hooked.”

The Daily Mail

Chris Tookey

“Though not without its flaws, this is the most inventive of all the Muppet movies, and certainly the goofiest. Its brilliant central idea is to recognise that, today, the Muppets are has-beens, but even 35 years past their sell-by date they have imperishable qualities — notably charm, innocence and optimism.”

The New York Times

Stephen Holden

“Winking at itself, the movie is casually, amusingly self-reflexive. In one joke Kermit the Frog considers telephoning President Carter. “The Muppets” makes no attempt to match the wisecracking hipness of the “Shrek” movies. If it doesn’t provoke belly laughs, it elicits many affectionate chuckles.”

The Sunday Times

Edward Porter

“Here they go back to basics, regrouping to stage a variety show like the ones they did every week in their 1970s television series. Unlike those half-hour blasts, James Bobin’s film has a few longueurs, but it’s still sure to delight old fans.
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The Daily Telegraph

Time Out

Tom Huddleston

“A predictable sort of putting-on-a-show hi-jinks, but in some ways that’s the point: this is cosy-blanket filmmaking, the very definition of that overused term, feelgood ... replete with beloved supporting characters, subversive asides, terrible puns and some of the most ludicrous, maniacal musical numbers ever committed to film - one throwaway showcase for a flock of singing chickens may well prove to be the funniest scene of 2012.”

The Evening Standard

The Financial Times

Nigel Andrews

“Unfortunately the pang of loss – the “you can’t go back again” – is reflected in the film’s own inability go back again. After a meditative midsection it tries to re-establish cuteness and comic zeal. But this Kermit never quite returns to innocent life after we find him in his doomy chateau with the wrought-iron frog outline in the gate (a batrachian Kane). ”

The Times

Wendy Ide

“There is a familiarity here that borders on laziness ... But then you don’t come to a Muppet film for character development or a story arc. You come because you want to be reassured that childhood memories are unsullied. And yet somehow, the latest Muppet movie succeeds rather more effectively than it has any right to.”